This invention relates to gardening systems and more particularly to raised bed gardening systems including means to protect the plants from animals.
Raised garden beds are becoming more and more popular both in commercial agriculture and in home agricultural settings inasmuch as they provide numerous advantages over normal-grade garden beds. For example, raised beds permit precise control of soil conditions while offering better water drainage and less soil compaction. The use of raised beds has led to the development of numerous types of containment systems to hold the soil and keep unwanted pests or animals out of the garden. Moreover such systems also include various means for enabling access to the raised bed.
The patent literature includes a number of patents directed to raised bed systems. For example see, U.S. Pat. No. 7,424,787 (Singer); U.S. Pat. No. 7,490,435 (Singer); RE44,055 (Singer); United States Published Applications US2007/0130824 (Teich); US2010/0224848 (Singer et al.); US2011/0252702 (Gazjuk); US 2011/0283611 (Topping); US2013/0174480 (Gabelmann); and European Published Application EP2273040 (Vandermaessen).
While those prior art raised bed systems including enclosures for keeping out animals or pests are generally suitable for their purposes they nevertheless leave something to be desired from the standpoints of simplicity of construction, ease of use and effectiveness. Accordingly, a need exists for a raised bed system which achieves those ends. The subject invention does so.
All references cited and/or identified herein are specifically incorporated by reference herein.